Strollers for use in transporting infants across generally horizontal surfaces are generally well-known and are disclosed in countless references. Nevertheless, various features continue to be developed for strollers relating to improved convenience, performance, safety, comfort, and so forth. Clearly, there are still improvements that can be made in the stroller art.
Most modern strollers are foldable in some manner so that they can be converted from an open (operational) configuration into a folded (storage) configuration. One area of possible improvement in such strollers is the three-dimensional volume of the stroller profile when folded. Since it is typically desirable to place the folded stroller into a car trunk, a closet, or some other storage area, it is preferable for the folded stroller to be as small as possible when folded while retaining the ability to be returned to an operational configuration without complicated reassembly of the stroller. In the area of carriage strollers, where the seating portion folds down to a completely horizontal surface or bassinet configuration, the structure and volume of the seating portion may be particularly problematic in the design of the folding operation.
Some modern strollers include a storage basket located underneath or behind the seating area of the stroller for the adult to place and store various and sundry items such as diaper packs, bottles, shopping purchases, and so forth. Unfortunately, when such baskets are placed behind the seating area they may interfere with the legs of the adult pushing the stroller. Further, in carriage strollers the basket is typically located underneath the bassinet and may not be easily accessible. U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,208 shows a pivotably mounted basket which can be pivoted between an operational configuration for the basket behind but not directly beneath the seat and a stowed configuration underneath the seat. Unfortunately, the basket can never be placed underneath the seat when it is full of various and sundry items.
Another possible area of improvement for a stroller is in the area of canopies and sunshades. While canopies in strollers typically are stitched or otherwise affixed to the back of the seating area or frame, so that they can only be extended to cover the rear portion of the seating area, there are some strollers that have provided canopies which are selectively movable to either cover the forward portion of the stroller seating area or the rearward portion of the seating area. When using the stroller on hot days, however, it may be desirable to provide both protection from the sun and increase ventilation through the seating area. Placing the canopy in the fully forward or fully backward position decreases the possible flow of air across and through the seating area. In addition, it may be desirable to provide the option for an extended canopy or sunshade to extend from the regular canopy for particular sun angles or inclement weather. Furthermore, at times it may be undesirable to have a canopy at all on the stroller.
Some modern strollers are provided with a footrest which is pivotably mounted to the front of the seating portion. The pivotable mounting can allow for adjustment of the angle of the footrest or attachment of the footrest to the seating portion. However, the only known example of a stroller with a footrest attachable to the seating portion includes a resilient latching mechanism which at times may be difficult to operate.
In addition, with the hurried lifestyles of modern day parents it may be desirable to feed infants while they are seated in a stroller. To the applicants' knowledge, they are not aware of the provision of a play or feeding surface on a stroller. This is a non-traditional use for a stroller, and is quite different from the art of high chairs where feeding surfaces are part of the main objective of the design, and of the art of swings where play surfaces are an aesthetic addition to what is basically a restraint mechanism to keep the infant in the chair.
It is against this background and the desire to solve the problems of the prior art that the present invention has been developed.